112 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VII. No. 161, 



tant feature of which was the establishment 

 of the office of Astronomical Director, sub- 

 ordinate to that of Superintendent. This 

 arrangement was the act of the Secretary 

 himself, and not of Congress. Both the 

 Superintendent and the Director are de- 

 tailed from the navy, the first being a line 

 ofiicer, the second a professor ; but we find 

 no law establishing their oflBces. 



In one point, at least, the advent of the 

 Astronomical Director is marked by a great 

 improvement. During the years before 

 1894 the annual reports are confused and 

 disjointed, exciting more curiosity than they 

 gratify, and showing no connection from 

 year to year. Since that date they have 

 been clear and well arranged. But this im- 

 provement in form only brings out in 

 bolder relief a feature which runs through 

 nearly all these documents. The report of 

 the Astronomical Director for 1897, which 

 has just been issued, fills six pages ; a small 

 space, one would suppose, in which to con- 

 dense the history of a year's work of such 

 an institution. Yet one-half of this space 

 is taken up with particulars which to the 

 lay reader seem trivial. Is it the Secre- 

 tary of the Navy or is it an astronomer who 

 will want to know, a year after the event, 

 that on September 3, 1896, the ' finder ' of 

 one of the telescopes was supplied with a 

 new leather cap ? The most elaborate pas- 

 sage in the whole report is devoted to an 

 account of difficulties encountered in raising 

 an ' elevating floor ' by steam-pumps and 

 the happy result of substituting water as the 

 motive power. ' To Professor J. E. East- 

 . man, U. S. N., four star-places were fur- 

 nished ; to Professor Edgar Frisby, U. S. N., 

 two star-places were furnished, and to 

 Professor S. J. Brown, U. S. N., nine star- 

 places wei-e furnished,' these gentlemen 

 being all oiBcers of the Observatory. Do 

 these communications between members 

 of the staff interest the world outside ? 

 Does the astronomer want to know in 



detail what objects could not be seen with 

 the telescopes, and what good intentions 

 were frustrated by bad weather and other 

 untoward circumstances ? If the impor- 

 tance of a subordinate is to be measured by 

 the number of times he is mentioned by 

 name, the most important man in the 

 place must be a Mr. Kahler, whose oflBce is 

 not stated, but who appears to be a mech- 

 anician. This gentleman's work is re- 

 ported with truly astronomical precision as 

 to dates. On September 3, 1896, the disc 

 of a micrometer head was found bent ; he 

 straightened it out the next day. Septem- 

 ber 8th he supplied the clamp for the draw- 

 tube of a finder. January 19, 1897, he 

 finished grinding a lens. February 18th he 

 cleaned, oiled and repaired the machinery 

 of the dial of one of the telescopes, and 

 so on. 



The estimates for the support of the Ob- 

 servatory during the next year are in round 

 number $66,000 for current running ex- 

 penses, and $34,000 for grounds, roads,, 

 building, etc. If to this we add the salaries 

 of officers and professors paid from the navy 

 fund, some $25,000, it will make a total of 

 $115,000. The report of the establishment 

 should certainly give the public such infor- 

 mation as will justify this expenditure. 

 We should like to know what important re- 

 searches are being carried on, what improve- 

 ments are being made in the observations^ 

 and what results of value are likely t» 

 accrue to astronomical science. But we- 

 have been unable to find, either in the re- 

 ports or elsewhere, anything to gratify this- 

 curiosity. Besides trivalities like those we 

 have already mentioned, the astronomical 

 report gives mostly a highly technical statis- 

 tical statement of the number of observa- 

 tions made with four of the instruments,, 

 and of the progress of the calculations con- 

 nected with them. It is difficult to perceive 

 how even a professional astronomer could 

 infer anything from the bare facts that 109- 



